The nurse is caring for a 3-year-old with a gastrostomy tube and tracheostomy who is on supplemental oxygen and multiple medications. The mother is rooming in during this hospitalization. What is the priority nursing action?
Incorporate the mother’s assistance in care when convenient.
Recognize the mother as the expert on her child’s needs and care.
Recommend that the mother go home to get some rest.
Provide family-centered care since the mother is there.
The Correct Answer is B
Safe and effective pediatric nursing care requires collaboration with caregivers, especially when caring for children with complex medical needs like a gastrostomy tube, tracheostomy, and multiple medications.
Rationale for correct answer:
B. Parents of medically complex children develop extensive expertise in daily care. The nurse should acknowledge this knowledge, involve the mother as a partner in care, and integrate her input into the plan. This approach promotes safety, minimizes errors, and supports family-centered care.
Rationale for incorrect answers:
A. Incorporating the mother’s assistance in care when convenient minimizes her role and implies she is only helpful occasionally. Her involvement should be central, not optional.
C. While caregiver rest is important, dismissing her may cause anxiety and reduce continuity of care. Instead, the nurse should support her presence and encourage breaks as appropriate.
D. While providing family-centered care since the mother is there is correct in principle, it is too general. True family-centered care requires specifically acknowledging the mother’s expertise and integrating her knowledge, making option 2 the best choice.
Take home points
- Parents of chronically ill children are vital partners in care and should be recognized as experts.
- Family-centered care means active, equal collaboration, not just presence or occasional involvement.
- Nurses should validate and respect parental input while ensuring safety and professional oversight.
- Empowering parents improves trust, adherence, and outcomes in children with complex health needs.
Nursing Test Bank
Naxlex Comprehensive Predictor Exams
Related Questions
Correct Answer is C
Explanation
Safe and compassionate care during the transition from curative to palliative treatment in pediatric oncology emphasizes supporting both the child and family. Nurses play a key role in ensuring that families remain central to decision-making, honoring their values, preferences, and cultural beliefs.
Rationale for correct answer:
C. Families are the primary caregivers and advocates for the child. Including them ensures respect for their values, promotes understanding of the goals of care, and helps them adjust emotionally to the transition. This approach enhances shared decision-making, maintains dignity, and strengthens coping mechanisms.
Rationale for incorrect answers:
A. The health care professionals should make the decision about the child’s care excludes the family, undermines trust, and disregards their role as the child’s advocate. Ethical pediatric care requires family participation in all major decisions.
B. Continuing aggressive treatment without benefit may increase suffering, prolong distress, and is not consistent with palliative principles. Hope can be reframed toward comfort, quality of life, and meaningful moments.
C. Palliative care is available across settings, including hospitals, hospices, and home. The choice depends on family preference, resources, and the child’s needs.
Take home points
- In pediatric palliative care, family-centered decision-making is essential.
- Nurses should support the family by providing honest information, emotional support, and guidance.
- Hope is not lost, rather, it is redirected toward comfort, dignity, and quality of life.
- Palliative care can occur in hospitals, hospices, or at home depending on the child and family’s wishes.
Correct Answer is C
Explanation
A chronically ill child demonstrating detachment behaviors may appear indifferent to the parents, show minimal distress upon separation, or redirect attachment to caregivers such as nurses. This behavior reflects ineffective coping, often seen when the child has experienced prolonged hospitalizations or repeated separations from parents.
Rationale for correct answer:
C. Hugging the nurse and ignoring the parents indicates detachment. Instead of showing distress or seeking comfort from parents, the child transfers attachment to the nurse and minimizes interaction with the parents. This is a maladaptive coping response to prolonged separation and hospitalization.
Rationale for incorrect answers:
A. Crying and begging the parents to stay represents separation anxiety, not detachment. It reflects active emotional attachment and protest.
B. Waving good bye and asking the parents when they would return is a healthy coping behavior, showing trust and security in the parents’ return. It is not detachment.
D. Grabbing the legs of the parents and refusing to let them go reflects protest behavior, not detachment. The child is still strongly attached and resists separation.
Take home points
- Detachment behaviors occur when a child adapts to repeated separation by withdrawing emotional connection from parents and attaching to others.
- This indicates ineffective coping and requires interventions to support parent-child bonding.
- Nurses should encourage frequent parental involvement and provide opportunities for positive interactions.
- Distinguishing between protest, despair, and detachment phases of separation anxiety is key in pediatric nursing.
Whether you are a student looking to ace your exams or a practicing nurse seeking to enhance your expertise , our nursing education contents will empower you with the confidence and competence to make a difference in the lives of patients and become a respected leader in the healthcare field.
Visit Naxlex, invest in your future and unlock endless possibilities with our unparalleled nursing education contents today
Report Wrong Answer on the Current Question
Do you disagree with the answer? If yes, what is your expected answer? Explain.
Kindly be descriptive with the issue you are facing.